The Sentimental Idiot !

Bangalore has more than half a dozen nicknames. Garden City, Pensioners Paradise, Silicon Valley of India, these are just the popular ones. Oh well,  there are many things that make this city special and thus  I’m not surprised at all. For me, Bangalore city was is and will always be known by one name and one name alone – Home. I have lived here all my life, and over the years, I have slowly but surely adapted to all the changes that have come about in my time here. Even the ever increasing city traffic. Most of you are going – 'Yeah! Sure you have'. I might be sounding a little insincere right about now so I’ll just explain myself a little. I’m not saying I ‘like’ the traffic in Bangalore; it’s just that I have learned to live with it. On some rare occasions though, for no particular reason, like magic, the congestion in some parts of the city just disappears. If you happen to be around in that brief window, you get a glimpse of how Bangalo...

“Neppo needs the fan and some soft music to fall asleep”. “He’s a dog mom; all he needs to fall asleep is a full stomach”. Napoleon the third, our adorable pet dog and the most trending topic in our family for over a year now enters the room again. This is his fifth time going around the house. He is acting like a child on a sugar rush. “Turn on the fan and see what happens”. Mom tells me. I reluctantly get up and follow her instructions. Napoleon returns for the sixth time. “Thud”!!! He crashes on the floor unceremoniously. “Did you see that”? I ask my mother, amused but mostly shocked by what I just witnessed before my eyes. ‘It was like all his joints dislocated at once”. I say aloud. “I’ve seen that before, now turn on the music”. She tells me. “Let’s wait and see, I still don’t think it’s the fan. He is just tired from running around ma”. “We’ll see’. She says shaking her head disapprovingly. Neppo is lying on the floor bu...

"Ma, the rice is clearly overdone". I declare loudly. It's 4:45 in the afternoon. My mother and I are watching a cookery show called 'Taste Time'. The chef has overcooked the basmati rice and while 'Prawns-Peas Fried Rice' sounded intriguing at first, we both are amused at his attempts to mask the mess with a layer of garnish that looks like a thick quilt covering a baby. He should call it 'Prawns Peas  Upma ' I say. Mom doesn’t care about the joke. "What is this WhatsApp"? She asks me changing the topic. "It is a message sending service".I say curtly. "My friend said it is an app, What exactly is an app"?  "App is a short form for application ma". "Application for what"? "For the function of sending messages". "Oh okay". I’m happy for a short while that the matter seems to be closed, but then the discussion resumes. "How do I get it on my...

I have always loved grocery shopping. It is one of those things that hasn’t changed about me in all these years. There is something very pleasant and personal about the experience. You’re out with your family, there’s a list of things to buy, new stuff you find on the aisles that you promise each other you will try out and, that one elusive item which no matter how hard you try to remember, you always forget to purchase. Grocery stores are also  undoubtedly, a treasure trove of inside jokes. It's by far the commonest place on earth to see small and large families alike laugh out loud for things that only they can understand. When I tell people that number 3 on my list of favorite experiences from a recent visit to the United States was shopping at Wegmans, they usually respond in one way, and one way only. GET OUTTA HERE!!! I’m not kidding, I absolutely love shopping for grocery with my family. While it was only a tiny little incident, a few months...